St. Irenaeus of Lyons ~ Page 2

�t. Irenaeus o� Lyons

Ancient fresco of two bishops who lived about fifty years after St. Irenaeus

BORN BETWEEN 120 AND 140: DIED 202 OR 203 Irenaeus’ connection to the time of the apostles BISHOP was very close. He was probably born in Smyrna FEAST DAY: JUNE 28 (modern Izmir in far western Turkey) and was a disciple of St. Polycarp, bishop of Symrna, a dis- S THE APOSTLES DIED — all but St. John ciple of St. Ignatius of Antioch. St. Ignatius was were martyred — the provisions they had in turn a disciple of St. John the Apostle. St. Amade for the spreading of the Gospel and Polycarp had himself heard St. John preach, so its faithful, inerrant transmission came into that Irenaeus could hear the words of St. John being. In the book of Acts, the apostles chose directly from his mentor’s lips. St. Matthias to replace the traitor apostle Ju- Shortly before his death in 155, St. Polycarp das. St. Paul named as bishops Sts. Timothy went to Rome, and Irenaeus followed him. There and Titus, those who became the successors of Irenaeus not only met the Pope and the famous the apostles and are entrusted with safeguard- St. Justin Martyr, a lay philosopher who had ex- ing and teaching what they themselves had re- plained the faith to the Roman emperor Antoni- ceived. St. Irenaeus was also an early bishop. nus, but he observed St. Polycarp’s confronta-

The Association for Catechumenal Ministry (ACM) grants the original purchaser (parish, local parochial institution, or individual) permission to reproduce this handout. tion with the Gnostic heresy, the first significant presentation of Catholic doctrine, and Irenaeus threat to orthodox Catholic teaching. (Gnosti- is thus considered the first great Catholic theo- cism taught a form of dualism, in this case that logian. He taught that closeness to God through not God but a “demiurge” or angels had created charity is better than any amount of knowledge the material world; that spiritual things are good and gifts that are used badly. He also taught fi- but material things are evil; that Jesus was not delity to the constant, public teaching of the bish- truly human but merely a phantom; claimed “se- ops from the time of the apostles until his own cret knowledge” of Jesus’ teaching; and believed time, both that recorded in Sacred Scripture and in salvation by “enlightenment,” not by our coop- that handed down in Sacred Tradition. His trea- eration with God’s grace and action in our lives.) tise was so successful that Gnosticism faded as a St. Polycarp was successful in restoring many threat to true Catholic doctrine. heretics to the true faith by his teaching, but the Irenaeus lived up to the meaning of his name heresy continued to spread. (which means “peaceful”) by again, in about From Rome, Irenaeus journeyed to south- 190, mediating another problem between the ern Gaul (modern France) and was ordained a Pope and Christian communities in Asia Mi- priest in Lyons, a major trading center and the nor over when Easter would be celebrated. largest city in Gaul which had numerous con- He begged the Pope to let the matter remain nections with Irenaeus’ original home territory. as it was, since the date used by these commu- In 177, a dreadful persecu- nities was part of their own tion of Christians began in “He taught that tradition, a solution that al- Lyons under the Roman em- lowed a peaceful, voluntary peror Marcus Aurelius. In closeness to God submission to the Roman the midst of the horrors that through charity is method of determining the were occurring daily, Ire- date of Easter one hundred naeus was sent by the lead- better than any amount thirty-five years later at the ers of the Lyonnaise church of knowledge and gifts Council of Ephesus. Yet to Rome to intercede with Irenaeus faithfully accepted the Pope for leniency to- that are used badly.” the supreme authority of the ward certain heretics in the Church in Rome; he merely churches in Asia Minor. Irenaeus was thus asked the Pope for moderation in its exercise in spared the martyrdom undergone by his bishop this particular instance. and many citizens of Lyons and its sister city Vi- Irenaeus is thought to have been martyred, enne across the river. He returned to Lyons the perhaps in 202 under the persecution of the em- following year to succeed his martyred bishop, peror Septimus Severus, but the evidence is the persecution by then having ended. not certain. His contributions to the universal Irenaeus’ own tenure as bishop was largely Church lie principally in his great works of the- peaceful. Although Lyons was itself still mis- ology. He is a true heir of the apostles, faithfully sion territory, he worked vigorously to evange- transmitting what St. John himself experienced: lize Gaul, sending out missionaries to bring the “That which was from the beginning, which we have faith to the native Celts. He learned Celtic, the heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have everyday language of the region, and normal- looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the ly spoke that language rather than his own na- word of life — the life was made manifest, and we saw tive tongue, Greek, so that he might truly be the it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life shepherd of his people. which was with the Father and was made manifest to Irenaeus is best known for his writings against us — that which we have seen and heard we proclaim various heresies then spreading through Gaul also to you” (1 Jn 1:1-3). As in the time of Ire- and elsewhere in the Roman Empire, most no- naeus, so today the truths of the faith continue tably the multi-volume treatise he wrote against to be carefully guarded and transmitted by the Gnosticism in all its many variations, Adverses hae- bishops in communion with the Pope, the Bish- reses (Against Heresies). It was the first systematic op of Rome.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons ~ Page 2